In Egypt, falafel is one of the most often consumed meals. It is always prepared with peeled beans and served fried. Chickpeas are used in its preparation throughout the Levant region, primarily in Syria and Lebanon. I used red lentils and baked instead of frying as the conventional cooking method in my recipe. It has been quite satisfying to use lentils instead of beans to develop a creative meal.
| Prep Time: | 30 mins |
| Cook Time: | 30 mins |
| Total Time: | 1 hr |
| Servings: | 12 |
| Yield: | 12 cupcakes |
Ingredients
- ⅔ cup lemon juice
- 3 large eggs
- 5 tablespoons white sugar
- 1 tablespoon lemon zest
- 3 ½ tablespoons salted butter, cut into small pieces
- 1 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
- ¾ cup white sugar
- 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ cup milk
- ¼ cup vegetable oil
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 large egg
- ½ cup hot water
- ½ cup white sugar
- 3 large egg whites
- ¾ teaspoon lemon juice
Instructions
- Combine lemon juice, eggs, sugar, and lemon zest for lemon curd in a small saucepan over low heat. Cook, whisking constantly, until thick enough to coat the back of a spatula or spoon, about 10 minutes. Remove from the heat and strain through a sieve into a bowl. Stir in butter until melted; set aside.
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Line a 12-cup muffin tin with paper liners.
- Sift flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt for cupcakes into a large bowl. Pour milk, oil, vanilla extract, and egg onto the dry mixture. Mix thoroughly with an electric mixer of by hand. Pour in hot water and mix to combine; batter will be thin. Spoon batter into the prepared muffin liners, filling about 3/4 full.
- Bake in the preheated oven until tops spring back when lightly pressed, 15 to 18 minutes. Cool in the tin for 5 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack and let cool, about 20 minutes.
- Core each cupcake using either a corer or a knife. Spoon in lemon curd.
- Pour sugar and egg whites into a large bowl. Place the bowl over a saucepan or pot of simmering water. Whisk constantly until sugar is dissolved and egg whites are warm, to between 120 and 140 degrees F (49 to 60 degrees C) on a thermometer, 4 to 6 minutes. Remove from the heat.
- Mix in lemon juice and whip at high speed until stiff peaks form. Pipe meringue onto the cupcakes.
- Set an oven rack about 10 inches from the heat source and preheat the oven’s broiler.
- Place cupcakes under the preheated broiler until meringue has browned, about 2 minutes.
Nutrition Facts
| Calories | 255 kcal |
| Carbohydrate | 38 g |
| Cholesterol | 72 mg |
| Dietary Fiber | 1 g |
| Protein | 5 g |
| Saturated Fat | 4 g |
| Sodium | 224 mg |
| Sugars | 27 g |
| Fat | 10 g |
| Unsaturated Fat | 0 g |
Reviews
3.19.21 This recipe is a lot of work, time consuming, and a lot of dirty dishes, all of which is OK if it turns out well. I followed this recipe to the letter and, unfortunately, the biggest issue is with the cupcakes’ texture. For lack of a better word, they’re gummy, not at all cake-like. The batter barely rose to the top of the muffin tin, either flat or actually caved in on the top, very little rise. And filling the muffin tin cups 3/4 full, I only ended up with 8 cupcakes, not 12. My husband and I split one, and then the rest went into the trash (and I haven’t done that often). Not sure what happened, but this was a major disappointment, and I won’t be making again. Now heading to kitchen to start the cleanup. So sorry for the bad review, and I don’t want to discourage others from trying, but reviews need to be honest.